


Veils and Evasions

by Medie



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, post-ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-30
Updated: 2012-10-30
Packaged: 2017-11-17 08:50:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/549760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hook leans in, brushing thumb along her jaw, catching her lower lip as he does. He remembers the taste of her lips. He'll never forget their sweetness and he wants them again. He thinks he always will. "My dear Tink," he murmurs, enjoying the way her lips part under his gaze, "I will always know you're near."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Veils and Evasions

**Author's Note:**

> sequel to [Alone in This Story's Pages](http://archiveofourown.org/works/543476). Post-Ep for "The Crocodile"

The beach is empty, not even so much as a bird soaring overhead. It's like so much of the realm, really. Empty, cold, and devoid of magic. Hook's gaze travels the horizon, not looking for anything particular and he counts off the moments until he thinks it safe. These covert meetings with Cora rankle him, prick at his temper with her high-handed arrogance made all the worse for the stench of dark magic that follows her everywhere she goes.

He sets his jaw against the anger and wishes once more for his ship. A breeze comes off the water, cool and gentle, carrying the sweet scent of Neverland's seas. He lets himself smile. 

"Bad form," he says, "Sneaking up on a man like that."

At his side, the air shimmers just a little, and then Tinker Bell is standing there. She's dressed like one of the refugees, but her feet are bare as ever. 

"It isn't sneaking," Tinker Bell says, petulant. "You always know I'm there."

He remembers the day after the curse had swept the land, when he'd found Tinker Bell sprawled on the deck of the Jolly Roger, wingless and shivering with fever. She's the last fairy in all the land, _his_ , and that spark of life in her eyes is the first sign of magic he's seen. 

The first sign of hope, however long its been since he cared for such a thing. 

Hook leans in, brushing thumb along her jaw, catching her lower lip as he does. He remembers the taste of her lips. He'll never forget their sweetness and he wants them again. He thinks he always will. "My dear Tink," he murmurs, enjoying the way her lips part under his gaze, "I will always know you're near." 

Curse or no, he cannot imagine a world wherein her presence isn't as familiar as the beat of his own heart.

She looks at him. "You mustn't trust that woman, you know. Cora was a disciple of _his_."

He'd suspected as much. Magic like Cora's displayed is not usually found amongst the mortal set and even less since the Curse ravaged the land. Still, he takes the news with a small nod and a brief squeeze of his fingers on her chin. 

Tinker Bell makes a face at that and he chuckles. "She's a means to an end, Tinker Bell," he says. "I need her for now. Since you will not take us from this land--"

"I can't," Tinker Bell says. Colour floods her cheeks, shame, and she puts distance between them. "The pathways have closed. Even Neverland is cut off from me now." 

The idea chills him. Somehow, knowing that Tinker Bell is trapped with them all is like the cut of a blade through his flesh. 

"Tinker Bell..." 

She looks at the sea, her expression like that of the Lost Boys she once protected. He wonders if they're safe in Neverland or if, like his crew, they were ripped away to a world none of them can reach. 

"Is that where you've been?" he asks, following. "Trying to find a way out?"

He's never seen Tinker Bell look hopeless before. The sight of it is sickening. He's reaching for her before he makes the decision to do so. That she comes to him easily and without their usual battles tells so much to them both, perhaps more him than her. 

There is something Tinker Bell isn't telling him. It's nothing new and yet it is. Tink's always kept much to herself, but there's a knowledge in her eyes that troubles him. 

"Some day, my dear Tinker Bell," he says, murmuring the words into her hair, "You'll tell me the truth."

"I won't have to," Tinker Bell replies, tipping her head to look at him. She looks like Milah did at the end. "You'll see it for yourself." 

"You'd rather we stay here," he realizes. "You'd rather I not find a way at all. Why?" 

She kisses him. "Because, my dear Captain, I am a coward at heart." 

"No," he says, shaking his head, angry, "but you are a liar. You hate him more than I, Tinker Bell, so why do you fear finding him so?" 

She's afraid. She has been since before the curse. Since the night she came back to Neverland, having visited the other faeries, and looked at him with absolute terror in her eye.

To him, and so many others, she's the greatest of the faeries. She retains magic even now, in a land stripped bare of it, and he can't imagine anything which would make her quake so and yet she's shaking in his arms. 

"I can't tell you, Killian." It's the first time in an eternity that she's called him by that name. "If I do, I seal all our fates." 

"Because I'll believe you?"

"Because you won't." 

Tinker Bell slips free of him. "Don't trust Cora."

He catches her by the hand. "Don't go far."

Her smile is sad, but real when she looks at him. "There's no point. Wherever I go, you'll always find me." 

Before he can answer, she's gone. Vanished into nothing once more. 

"Quite right," he says, anyway, to the empty air. "I always will."


End file.
